zoom in to enjoy the most

Exactly 1 year ago today, I posted a video which contained both a recording of one of my songs with corresponding images from my related paintings. The original article linked to youtube. The visual and audio quality was pretty poor and I didn’t do much to promote or share it.

Today I am sharing the video on what has been a hidden page on my site until today.

As for the content of the video – I think it speaks for itself – the song is entitled “Nothing Is Equal” – it is really a tribute to how people can make the best out of their situation – it is loaded with respect and I suppose some shared guilt for life being so unequal.

It offers not just a five minute tour of my digital art and music, but also two PDF files which anyone can print and get a better idea of what this work really looks like.

Even printed on a standard letter paper will reveal details and a feeling which cannot be appreciated by just looking at a monitor image.

See Also

Play & Print – art and music combined for a true Outhouse Studios Tour and flavor

More Music from 1danband – another hidden resource – my undeveloped MySpace page – just not much of a social net-worker as of yet

embracing the work I can

The artwork is inspired by Mount Toro – a part of the Santa Lucia Mountains – still Salinas. There is a particular area I am thinking of in doing this painting, but it is not so particularly literal – what else is new.

Actually – where I find myself today is working on a major website redo – but being more overwhelmed by the prospect than being able to get on with the doing. There is no substitute for just doing – but it is a daunting task to simplify that which has gotten too big to manage.

Since I am painting instead of website building – and blogging instead – the piece undoubtedly reflects this state. If I could take the same approach as I do with art – I will get it done – but I am less inspired by website design than by the beauty that surrounds me – so I do art and hope that the next days will find it easier to get more done in the process.

On the bright side, I have been wanting to paint this area for quite some time – with or without cows – wasn’t sure – but today it felt like it needed a few cows – a digital challenge for a mouse freehander like myself.

See Also

Taking on the View – Article and only other painting with cows – this one taking from the foothills of the othe mountain chain that creates the Salinas Valley

Original Art – how can something reproducible be considered original – what does it even mean?

color and spring significance

In the Salinas Valley – if feels like spring starts in February – which is when this piece was created. The crops are spottily coming in and the hills and mountains are beginning to show green. As seen above, the dirt is still the most prevalent feature to the landscape, but the colors are becoming rich. And though the change from winter to spring is much less clear than in most other parts of the country, it is nevertheless, a noticeable change and a welcome feeling.

If you are not from around here, you might not recognize the irrigation in the background – but this is the way it looks from a distance. Many liberties taken with the emerging rows of young lettuce – but as I have written too many times – it is more about the feeling than the literalness.

I rely on no camera – just the lasting impression from what I spied. Like the beginning of Spring – this is a first for me… a new article with a standard wordpress blog – instead of the customized version I had grown accustomed to – but had neglected. With the new standard blog – I have subscribers – but I don’t know what that means – perhaps one of you can explain it with a comment. Are you informed when I post?

See Also

Original Art – discussion of what it means and how it pertains to digital painting and its prints

through the woods

This is the most recent finished painting I have done. I am no longer particularly current on my blogging and am not sure if or when I will become so again. I’ve done a lackluster job of trying to engage people –

A blog is supposed to be a place for people to comment and interact and create something more than what is written by the author. I suppose my tendency is to write a little too much to myself – or write in a way that doesn’t invite comment – and of course – it probably would help if I tried to create an audience by actually inviting people to read my articles and then to comment… by the way – please feel free.

I chose the subject above because of the drama of looking through the giant Eucalyptus trees to the fields beyond – a scene I viewed driving as a passenger on the 101 south of Salinas before you get to King City.

I think on a deeper level it is also a metaphor for how we see ourselves – on what should we focus? – expressions that come to mind : one can’t always see the forest through the trees … it is hard to see through the growth…

I don’t care where you are in life – it is next to impossible to see oneself the way others see us.

My biggest fan was always my mother – today would have been her 90th birthday – had she lived that long. Eucalyptus was a favorite of hers – I thought of both these things only as I finished this article.

Listen or View

Digital Art – since this is an example of painting on the computer, get a further understanding of how non descriptive this term really is

Has Life Turned a Corner – written a couple weeks after my mother died (almost seven years ago) and the eve of having to put my dog down – damn – Sure glad I don’t feel this way now! – but I do still like the song and do still miss those who are gone

Forest Through the Trees – found this silk painting by some search results – don’t know the artist but I do like the image of the silk painting – perhaps you will too

the current sea of wisdom?

I am a lousy capitalist – I hate how important money is in our world. I appreciate a lot of the finer things in life and appreciate how money can make a lot of those things possible – but money by itself has become too much the stuff of dreams.

Money is not an end in itself – or at least I don’t think it should be – but what do I know. Is money the new idol?

I want to believe in what is lasting in life – money just circulates – you can’t hold on to it – like food it needs to be replaced – and how easily it is blown or blown away …

different digital challenges

One of the things I have improved on over the years is paying attention to the composition – so that a piece works both large and small. With digital art – there is not necessarily an optimum size and certainly not a one and only size.

As I have taken on this medium, I keep trying to do work which utilizes the attributes which are unique to creating art on the computer. Stepping back is done by minimizing the size – and getting up close is done by magnifying.

Once a work is printed, I find they are generally stronger as they get large enough to see the detail found when creating the piece. Texture and overlap of color come into their own in a way that is really only hinted at by a monitor screen – but yet again – seeing on a monitor may actually be closer than with a photo of a more traditional form of art.

See Also

Original Art – discussion of what it means particulary in the context of digital painting and prints on demand

Planting the Details

On an overcast day in Salinas – a few weeks ago – was a lot of planting going on – through plastic covered rows of dirt – ready to become next year’s strawberries. Though I understood what I was seeing – this digital painting is more stylized than detailed.

The fields are gray – the day is gray – and yet it felt very peaceful.

It fits with the distance I was viewing and the pace I was driving – much faster than the pace of life today.

The plasticized fields are both ugly and beautiful all at the same time – the decision to paint it I think rests upon these clearly coexisting opposites.

Finishing?

Recently I wrote a song about there not being enough hours in the day, the night, or a lifetime to do it all – and certainly not enough hours to do it all right.

So basically we have time limits on everything we do – whether we realize it or not.

So I guess my conclusion is to be a little less of a perfectionist and not take the adage about doing things right the first time to heart – because there is no such thing – no artwork is every done – no fix is permanent …

All of our efforts are more like “treatments” if you will – we make an adjustment and it improves things and then needs another adjustment.

I’ve been trying to limit the time for various tasks in my life – even works of art – when the rule strikes my fancy –

For after all – even the rules are like a treatment – needing readjustments as we go along.

See Also

Digital Painting – insight into the art form and process of creating by Dan Beck at Outhouse Studios

Managing Perfectionism – there is good insight here – my focus is a bit different because the process for me has always been about gaining a certain level of expertise – enough vocabulary or technique to express myself or determine it isn’t my thing – but focus can be very focused to very broad- we can be extremely specialized experts to dabblers in everything

which curve?

When I wrote about this digital painting before – I focused on the process and the secondary success not conceived of with the original goal in mind. There are always secondary gains or successes which were not intended – just as in life.

I like to think that my work is innovative art – that I am always pushing the limits of the medium or my own limits – the limits of my audience which of course includes myself. If I am doing my job correctly, I will not necessarily appreciate some of the things I do right away… a strange paradox really.

All art comes from somewhere else – all music, all dance, all theatre etc. is not created in a vacuum, but is built upon what is already found elsewhere in culture. A term I have come to appreciate more than even originality or innovation is authenticity – whether the art is authentic or genuine – coming from the place of being done because it has to be – where appreciation and regard are not a thoughtful consideration.

See Also

Shape of Something New – a previous departure from the art I was doing at the time – but a road I didn’t travel down – and one which seemed too familiar and previously traveled by others – but a piece I like nonetheless

Ahead of the Curve – clips from university musicians – some authentic – some cloning … obviously originality and innovation are difficult to measure – work that is too different has always been poorly received

Weaving Meaning

Hillside Spin – digital art – Dan Beck 2007

I thought it was time to bring out another of the tracks from the Red Eye Recordings last spring – the unconscious mind is a fascinating thing.

The original song is called “Global Warming” – a joke really – cause there really isn’t a whole lot the song has to do with the topic – just “How come we are sitting in the shade?” – but as I quickly browsed an image file – looking only at titles – no dates – I thought that the above digital painting rather captures the song – not even sure exactly why – but as it turns out – it was created just about the same time as the song was written – I knew without remembering.

Also interesting – was my own personal quote in the article – something I thought about just yesterday out of the blue –

the dots often connect in conjunction with my life – there is always meaning in the timing – things don’t happen at the speed I expect them to – but when they do – it is always amazing how many things fit together to build a richer meaning.

Writing music works in this same way – a song’s lyrics and music develop like these hills – building until the ending kind of folds into the beginning – spinning back upon itself…

Listen or View

Global Warming – a song about life – these spinning connections – dog/me/past/future/expectations/potential/timing/ – partner having cigarette withdrawals – me needing to withdraw – and played with a flourish – just one guitar and vocals – and an extra pass for backup vocals – Dan Beck 2007 – Alone and Contagious – written during the recording sessions

Price of meaning – every bit as ridiculous as the conceptual creation of an artwork and article entitled “Meaning” – because of the comical implications of doing such an internet search – prices for original art prints of the above referenced work of art